|
| Senior catcher Brad Pennington led the NC Wesleyan Bishops with 3 hits in a win over Methodist on Tuesday afternoon. NC Wesleyan athletics photo by C.Lewis |
Berry overcame a 4-1 deficit on Wednesday to move to 5-0 with a 5-4 win over the winless Scots. Elsewhere on the day Birmingham Southern dealt LaGrange a 6-3 loss for a 3-1 start to the season with Oglethorpe and Piedmont playing late,
Birmingham-Southern used a big fourth inning to defeat LaGrange 6-3 on the road Wednesday night to improve to 3-1 overall. Camden McNearney and Jack Fleming led the Panthers at the plate. McNearney went 3-for-3 with a double, a run, and an RBI. Fleming was 3-for-4 with a run. Neither struck out. Luke Jones picked up his first win of the season. He threw three hitless innings and struck out two. Hansen McCown earned save after one inning of work that included a strikeout.
In the second meeting between these two this season, Piedmont once again toppled the Stormy Petrels winning 3-2 over Oglethorpe Wednesday at Loudermilk Field. Carter Ballstadt was impressive all around getting it done on offense, defense and on the mound. Ballstadt had a stellar defensive play to throw out a runner at home as the lions nursed a 1-0 lead, the RBI single that proved to be the game-winner and struck out the side to end the game in the ninth.
- Season Previews: Mid-Atlantic | Midwest
NC Wesleyan slugged 13 hits in defeating rival Methodist 9-2 on the road Tuesday in their season opener. Senior catcher Brad Pennington led the Bishops with 3 hits on the afternoon while sophomore outfielder Zach Lyon went 2 for 3 with a home run and 4 runs scored. Bass and Hibbs also recorded multi-hit games for Wesleyan while eight different Bishops connected with at least one base hit in the game. Sophomore outfielder Drifton Padgett knocked a double, stole two bases, and scored two runs as well. On the Pitching side, Wesleyan got 4 solid innings from freshman starter CJ DiBenedetto as he allowed just one run on 4 hits with 2 walks and a strikeout while reliever Zach Woolard tossed two solid innings of relief to pick up the win. Freshman reliever Daniel Thompson then led the way with 5 strikeouts over his 2 and 2/3 hitless innings.
Berry continued their winning ways as they hosted Maryville in a doubleheader on neutral ground, winning both games 8-3 and 9-8 respectively. Ben Coker (2-0) got the start in the circle for game one and would help the team to a victory, striking out eight, while Andrew Norred would earn his first victory of the season in game two, striking out three in the extra innings. Game one kicked off with Zack Walch hitting a double to left field, scoring shortly after Tyler Calvert reached on a fielder's base in the first inning. Despite Maryville taking an early lead after the second inning, the Vikings rallied back as Calvert homered to left field in the third inning. Wesley Wade would then hit a double to right field in the bottom of the eighth to secure the 8-3 victory.
Game two saw a much more competitive bout between the Vikings and the Fighting Scots, as both teams would be neck and neck until the end. Berry gained the lead early with Zach Huie getting a triple to left center in the third inning. Maryville answered back and scored five in the sixth inning, seeing Berry trail 8-2. The Vikings began to mount an incredible comeback that started with a double from Wade. Forcing extra innings, the Vikings' offense would continue to apply pressure and patience, drawing seven walks in the last two innings, finally allowing Jack Poist, who reached on a single to left field, to score the winning run and take the 9-8 victory after trailing 8-5 in the seventh.
Oglethorpe got its first win of the young season Sunday when they split a doubleheader with the Birmingham-Southern Panthers at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex in Hoover, Alabama. They took the first game 7-6 in 10 innings before falling 12-5 in Game 2. That combination of results moved the Stormy Petrels to 1-3 on the season.
Oglethorpe's Chris Keane came through with a huge run-scoring to left, tying the score at 6-6, setting the stage for the 10th inning. Sophomore center fielder Wyatt Lee, who started the game in right field before moving over to replace Keane, started the extra frame with a double. Sophomore right fielder Carson Weir sacrificed him to third, which proved to be a good move as a sacrifice fly to left, gave the Petrels a 7-6 edge. Keane went back to mound to try to close it out and sent the Panthers packing in short order, securing the victory.
Birmingham-Southern jumped out to a big lead early in Game 2, scoring a run in the first, 3 in the second and 2 more in the third for a 6-0 lead. The Petrels fought back, though making the score 6-3. In the bottom of the sixth, the Petrels scored a run on a double play to inch closer, then got another run-scoring single from Featherstone to make it 6-5. However, they got no closer and the Panthers scored 3 runs each in the seventh and eighth innings to secure the win.
This story will be updated